Sound record or blank.



PATENTED-I'MA'Y 5, 1903. W. H. MILLER & A. N. PIERMAN.

SOUND RECORD 0R BLANK.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 21, I902.

U0 MODEL.

Witnesses:

In van for 5 THE' NORRIS pzrzns co. PHOTO-LIYHQ, WASHINGTON, DI

UNITED STATES Patented May 5, 1903.

PATENT FFICE.

WALTER H. MILLER, OF ORANGE, AND ALEXANDER N. PIERMAN, NEW- ARK, NEXV JERSEY, ASSIGNORS TO NATIONAL PHONOGRAPH COMPANY,

OF ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

SOUND RECORD OR BLANK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 726,966, dated May 5, 1903. Application filed November 21, 1902. Serial No. 132,219. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that we, WALTER H. MILLER, residing at Orange, and ALEXANDER N. PIER- MAN, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, citizens of the United States, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Sound Records or Blanks, of which the following is a description.

Our invention relates to improvements in sound records or blanks either in the form of cylinders or fiat disks; and our object is to produce a sound record or blank which while presenting a record surface of a suitable amorphous wax-like material is at the same time sufficiently durable as to be indestructible under ordinary conditions.

Blanks and records made of the ordinary wax or wax-like materials are very fragile and delicate in character and are frequently cracked and broken in the act of placing them in position on a recording or reproducing machine, and in the case of cylindrical blanks or records they frequently become broken or cracked merely by falling from a vertical to a horizontal position, while such records or blanks if allowed to fall from a height of only a few feet on a moderately hard surface will be shattered ordinarily into many pieces, 0 and in any event the delicate record-surface will be destroyed. "Our improved record or blank is so durable that it may be dropped or even thrown upon the floor with considerable force without encountering any objectionable injury to its record-surface, and if the latter cracks at allthe cracks are so microscopic that they do not aifectthe reproduction.

Broadly stated, ourinv'ention comprises a sound record or blank made of any suitable and ordinary wax or wax-like material and containing in its mass a sufficient bulk of fibrous material as to secure the desired durability, the fibrous material being completely penetrated and inclosed by the wax-1ike material. The fibrous material which we prefer to use and which we have successfully employed in practice is ordinary cotton-wool or cotton-batting; but other fibrous materials may be used, such as cloth, absorbent paper, blotting-paper, paper-pulp, &c-.

In its preferred form the invention comprises a sound record or blank the recordingsurface of which is formed wholly of a suitable amorphouswax or wax-like material and the main portion of which is composed of a fibrous material like cotton-wool, wholly impregnated: by the wax-like material, so that the individual fibers of the fibrous material will be surrounded by the wax-like material.

When our invention is employed in connection. with cylindrical records or blanks, it preferably also comprises a spiral rib molded on its interior for engaging the usual tapered core, which rib is formed wholly of the wax or wax-like material.

Finally, the invention in its most approved form comprises a duplicate sound record made of molten wax or wax-like material. impregnatinga mass of fibrous material and carrying a molded sound-record groove on its record-surface, the latter being preferably amorphous and free of fibers.

In order that the invention may be better understood,attention is directed to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through a cylindrical record or blank, showing our invention in its preferred form; Fig. 2, a section on the line 2 2 of Fig. l, and Fig. 3 an enlarged detailed vertical section illustrating a molded sound-record embodying our invention'.

In' all of the views corresponding parts are represented by the same numerals of reference.

In its preferred form the invention comprises a portion 1, on which the record is formed and which is composed wholly ofthe usual amorphous wax or wax-like material,

and a portion 2, comprising the body of -'the record or blank, which portion is formed of the same wax or wax-like material impregnat ingasuitablefibrousmateriah the entire mass of wax or wax-like material being substantially integral or continuous throughout. When the record or blank is of cylindrical form, it also preferably comprises a spiral rib 3, made of the same wax or wax-like material. The whole record is molded, and when the invention is utilized in connection with duplicate sound-records the record-groove may be molded contemporaneously with the formation of therecord itself. Such a molded record-groove is shown in Fig. 3 by the numeral 4.

p the fibrous material, preferably ordinary cotfiber of the latter.

ton-batting or cotton-wool. This core, with its wrapping of fibrous material, is then inserted in a cylindrical mold, which for the manufacture of blanks is smooth on its interior, while for the manufacture of duplicate sound-records it is provided on its interior with a negative recordgroove. A molten wax-like material is nowintroduced into the space between the mold and core, preferably from the bottom upward, and intimately fills that space, impregnating the fibrous material and practically surrounding each individual After the wax-like material has been allowed to set the core is removed, after which the blank or record is removed from the mold by contracting the blank or record radially by a chilling operation.

To find in practice that blanks and records made in accordance with our invention possess all the advantages of blanks and records made wholly of wax or wax-like material so far 'as superiority of reproduction is concerned, since with our blank or record the record-surface is identical with the recordsurfaces of blanks or records made wholly of wax or wax-like material. Our improved blank or record possesses, however, the immense superiority over blanks or records made wholly of wax or wax-like material in being so strong and durable that it may he dropped from a considerable height or be actually thrown upon the floor without breaking or cracking the record-surface, and if any cracks are formed they are so microscopic as not to affect the reproduction. We find, in fact, that with our improved blank or record the latter is actually elastic, due to the presence of the relatively large mass of fibrous material therein, and can be actually collapsed to a considerable extent without injuriously affecting the character of the record-surface.

Having now described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. Asanew article of manufacture, a sound record or blank composed of normally hard and friable material adapted to be molded and containing within its mass fibrous material to render the same less friable, substantially as set forth.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a sound record or blank composed of normally hard and friable material adapted to be molded and containing within its mass cotton-wool to render the same less friable, substantially as set forth.

3. Asa newarticle of manufacture, a sound record or blank made of fibrous material, and a hard, friable wax or wax-like material impregnatingthe fibrous material to surround the individual fibers thereof, substantially as set forth. 7

4:. As a new article of manufacture, a sound record or blank having a record-surface of hard, friable wax or wax-like material, and a main portion formed of a fibrous material completely impregnated with wax or wax-like material, substantially as set forth.

5. As a new article of manufacture, a sound record or blank made of molten hard, friable wax or wax-like material completely impregnating a fibrous material, substantially as set forth. I

6. As a new article of manufacture, a sound record or blank made of molten hard, friable wax or wax-like material completely impregnating a fibrous material, with a record-surface formed wholly of such wax or-wax-like material, substantially as set forth.

7. As a new article of manufacture, a cylindrical sound record or blank formed of a cylinder of fibrous material completely impregnated with hard, friable wax or wax-like material, substantially as set forth.

8. As a new article of manufacture, a cylindrical sound record or blank formed of a cylinder of fibrous material completely impregnated with hard, friable wax or wax-like material,with a record-surface formed of such wax or wax-like material, substantially as set forth. v

9. As a new article of manufacture, a cylindrical sound record or blank formed of a fibrous material completely impregnated with hard, friable wax or wax-like material, and an interior spiral rib integral with the wax or wax -like material, substantially as set forth.

10. As a new article of manufacture, a cylindrical sound record or blank formed of a fibrous material completely impregnated with hard, friable wax or wax-like material, and an interior spiral rib integral with the wax or wax-like material and formed whollyof such wax or wax-like material, substantially as set forth.

11. As a new article of manufacture, a cylindrical sound record or blank composed of fibrous material with a molten hard, friable wax or wax-like material completely impregnating the fibrous material, substantially as set forth.

12. As a new article of manufacture,a cylindrical sound record or blank composed of fibrous material with a molten hard, friable wax or wax-like material completely impregnating the fibrous materiaLwith a record-surface formed wholly of the wax or Wax-like material, substantially as set forth.

13. As a new article of manufacture, a cylindrical sound record or blank composed of fibrous material with a molten hard, friable wax or wax-like material completely impregnating the fibrous material,with a record-surface formed wholly of the wax or wax-like material, and with an interior spiral groove formed wholly of the wax or wax-like mate rial, substantially as set forth.

14. As a new article of manufacture, a duplicate sound-record formed of a fibrous material with a molten hard, friable wax or waxlike material completely impregnating the same, and with a molded record-groove carried by the Wax-like material, substantially as set forth.

15. As a new article of manufacture, a sound record or blank composed of cottonwool completely impregnated with hard, friable wax or wax-like material, substantially as set forth.

16. As a new article of manufacture, a sound record or blank composed of cottonwool completely impregnated with hard, friable wax or wax-like material, with a recordsurface formed wholly of the wax or wax-like material, substantially as set forth.

17. As a new article of manufacture, a cylindrical sound record or blank composed of a cylinder of cotton-wool completely impregnated with hard, friable wax or wax-like material, substantially as set forth.

18. As a new article of manufacture, a cylindrical sound record or blank composed of a cylinder of cotton-wool completely impregnated with hard, friable wax or wax-like material, and with a record-surface formed wholly of wax or wax-like material, substantially as set forth.

l9. Asa new article of manufacture, a oylindrical sound record or blank composed of a cylinder of cotton-wool completely impregnated with hard, friable wax or wax-like material, with a record-surface formed wholly of wax or wax-like material, and an internal spiral groove formed wholly of wax or Waxlike material, substantially as set forth.

20. As a new article of manufacture, a duplicate sound-record composed .of a fibrous material, a molten hard, friable wax-like material completely impregnating the same, and a molded record-groove carried by the wax or wax like material, substantially as set forth.

21. As a new article of manufacture, a duplicate sound-record composed of cotton-Wool completely impregnated with a molten hard, friable wax or wax-like material, and a molded record-groove carried by the wax or waxlike material, substantially as set forth.

22. As a new article of manufacture, a duplicate cylindrical sound-record comprising a cylinder of cotton-wool completely impregnated with a hard, friable wax or wax-like material, and a molded record-groove formed in the wax or wax-like material, substantially as set forth.

23. As a new article of manufacture, a cylindrical duplicate sound-record comprising a cylinder of cotton-wool completely impreg nated with a hard, friable wax or wax-like material and having arecord-surface formed wholly of wax or wax-like material, and a molded record groove carried within said record-surface, substantially as set forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this 19th day of November, 1902.

WALTER H. MILLER.

Witnesses to signature of Walter H. Miller:

HARRY F. MILLER, S. S. BROWN. This specification signed and witnessed this 31st day of October, 1902.

ALEXANDER N. PIERMAN.

Witnesses to signature of Alexander N. Pierman:

' W. J. BUEHLER,

W. PUGH. 

